miscellaneous

Yep, here's that random post which combines snips of a lot of things that I've been meaning to "blog" about but haven't made time to do it yet.

1. My folks visited a while back. It was just after school started (I think). I'd been bugging them and bugging them to come up and finally they did (actually Dad had been up a couple times for bike trips or a canoe trip, Mom just hadn't been up in a while... yes, it's way past time for us to pay them a visit... we will, we will.) Well, when they got here, we hung out, ate, went to a movie, did fun "visiting" type stuff. After they acclimated for a day or two, we decided to take them "Out"... you know, to do FUN stuff... so we drove them a little more than an hour away to this real cool place called "Rock Town"... it's on top of Pigeon Mountain which is a mountain plateau that parallels (on the south side) Lookout Mountain-- Chattanooga (but still in Georgia).

It was a nice visit, here's proof:

Oh yeah, we had to hike a mile from the parking lot out to where the rocks were, it wasn't a bad hike though, here's my Mom and the gimp (Dad has a partial knee replacement, jacked up back and he can't raise his right arm due to a pending shoulder replacement... we still love him though and he's one heck of a trouper!) Oh, Yeah!!! My girl got some climbing skillz!!! Not sure why she decided not to smile though.
Here's a shot of one of the part monkey, part mountain goat, part cheetah that we've been raising for about 10 years now... He can climb just about anything.
Just like big brother right?
Funny thing about these cracks in the rocks... some of them only had 20 ft. drops, others dropped for 40, 50, or 60 feet... I'm not particularly afraid of heights, I just get a little nervous when my dad and my son jump back and forth across these things trying to scare me... ask Dad how that turned out for him the next time you see him... (he made it across one that he almost didn't get back across... yup, he almost took a fall... probably would've been his last).
This is a really cool place and no pictures could do it justice. You just have to go there.
Melinda and Mom chill a bit while Macho man flexes for the camera.
After a nice visit with the rocks, it's time to head back to the car. As you can see from this picture, everyone was energized and ready for our next adventure.
It was a good visit and I'm very thankful that my parents are game to so many of my shenanigans. I'm already planning their next visit. Dad says downhill mountain biking is out of the question ever since the incident on the Pinhoti trail (between Ellijay and Fort Mountain) last year. So,..... I guess it's going to have to be hang gliding instead!!

2. Let's see, I already told you about the Canoe trip, so I think next we went to Ginger's for Jonathan's birthday (he turned 12 and was ordained a Deacon). You can catch highlights from this on Ginger's Blog. Here's a couple pics. It was a nice visit... We took the kids on a stroll through the Bamboo Forest in Prattville, AL. (just down the road from the High School that I graduated from--- I only lived there my senior year... it was o.k.)
I learned a valuable lesson on that visit. That lesson is this: If I ever intend to play cards with Dad and Blake (Gingers Husband) again, then I must acquire a prescription for Valium or Xanax for me and/or for them. They figured out how to push my buttons that night... It had been a stressful week and I was sleep deprived as usual... 'Nuff said.

Moving on:
3. Kittens... I may have mentioned that we have kittens... actually we got them mid to late June, but I'm finally posting about them... We had a cat named Spike-tail that we got when Stanton was a baby... he was a cool cat... half Manx/half something else... purely and outside cat... a mouser... Well, long story-short... he got poisoned by the tainted Chinese cat food, ended up with liver failure and died last October (I think)... he's buried in the woods beside our house. Here's a picture of "Spike". Looks thrilled to be held, right?
Yeah, I know I said he was an outside cat, but every once in a while, he'd scram inside while we were fixing him some fresh water, but he lived 98% of his live "Guarding" our home. We'll miss him. So, about these new kittens, they're actually looking more likes cats now. Their names are Bootsie and Aloe. Brothers, but look like they're from different families. These cats are curious!!! They are hilarious too. They've been in/out cats lately, but as soon as we get their family jewels removed, they'll be full blown OUTSIDE cats. Ever hear the phrase "Who let the cat out of the bag?" Bootsie is the one in the bag, Aloe is just guarding the entrance. Here's a little bit of footage of what they do many times a day and every night from 10:45 to 11:45 like clockwork: (the footage is from when they were quite younger ):

No, we're not what I would call "Cat People"... you know, folks who eat, sleep, breath "Cats"... and I don't think that we smell like Cat Pee either.. you know the kind I'm talking about... Stereotypically they are single women in the 40 to 80 year age group who only go out to buy more cat food and kitty litter. Our kittens are DANG CUTE though.... gotta admit it.

4. Stanton's Birthday! Turned out to be a pretty big ordeal. I think we last counted close to 40 people (probably 2/3 kids). We were running our usual 1 1/2 hours late, but with the help of some of our early guests (thanks to the Giles, Yandows, Campbells and anyone else I may have forgotten to mention), it came together nicely. We grilled hot dogs, Conecuh sausage, chicken, and pork shoulder/Boston butt (slow cooked/pulled pork style)... with usual side items and finished it all off with Melinda's Famous Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse filling and Ganache Icing. Stanton and the rest of the kids had a good time, as did the Adults (me too)... before it was all over, I had some of the men on Melinda's and my mountain bikes roaring up and down our trails... I think Todd Campbell and Jorge Bueno even rode on the teeter-totter that we built on the trail (one of our "intermediate" rated stunts)... Maybe for my birthday in November I can have all my friends come over and ride bikes again!!! Here are a few pictures from Stanton's celebration: Yes, that is in our garage... how classy of us.
I think the cats were the only ones who didn't enjoy the evening. Thank you for everyone who came, we enjoyed it... after living here for more than 2 years, we finally had guests over and the house didn't burn down after all. We did miss our friends and relatives who were not able to join us in the festivities... maybe you folks can make the next one.

Well, I'm running out of time and thoughts. See y'all soon (hopefully).

Later,

Scott (and Melinda if she ever decides to "Blog") Bedwell